Sendai air raid survivors Isao Ichihashi, right, and Makoto Shoji, attend the plaque unveiling on the premises of a pharmacy in Aoba Ward, Sendai, on Dec. 8, 2021. (Mainichi/Yudai Hiraka)

       SENDAI -- A plaque marking the "bombing center point" the U.S. military used to target incendiary bombs in an air raid on this northeastern Japan city that killed nearly 1,400 people at the end of the Pacific War was unveiled here on Dec. 8, the 80th anniversary of the start of the conflict between Japan and the United States.

       Citizen volunteers collected donations from across the country to install the plaque in Miyagi Prefecture's capital city Sendai, in the hope that "people will walk on it and use it as a place to solidify the foundations of peace." It was placed on a road surface on the premises of a pharmacy in the city center by a citizens' association.

       The association formed in 2020, 75 years after the air raid, and planned to place the plaque at the central point of the attack target as identified in U.S. Army documents. Members collected donations from over 100 people in and out of the prefecture.

       A plaque indicating the center point of the Sendai air raid bombing is seen on the premises of a pharmacy in Aoba Ward, Sendai, on Dec. 8, 2021. (Mainichi/Yudai Hiraka)

       The center point is located in a shopping street in central Sendai's Aoba Ward. In July 2020, an acrylic sign explaining the site was targeted by U.S. air raids was put up on the wall of the building where the pharmacy is housed. The remaining donations were used to create the 45-centimeter-diameter circular plaque made of copper and tin alloy. Its inscription reads "center point of Sendai air raid bombing," and includes the bombing's date and the U.S. B-29 bombers' entry route. According to the association, it is the first time in Japan that a plaque has been placed on the road surface of the bombing's center point.

       Two air raid survivors were present on Dec. 8 to remove the sheet covering the plaque. Makoto Shoji, who lives in Sendai's Aoba Ward, was 13 at the time and survived by evacuating to an air-raid shelter. He said he could not forget seeing the charred body of a small child lying outside when he got out of the shelter. The 88-year-old said, "I hope people will remember that incendiary bombs fell here."

       Isao Ichihashi, 87, another survivor living in Sendai's Taihaku Ward, was 11 at the time. He evacuated to his mother's parents' home in central Japan's Nagano Prefecture after his home burned down in the air raid. "We must never fight such a stupid war again. I hope the people who walk past here realize that," he said.

       Passersby can freely view the plaque. Association member Hiroko Niitsuma said, "I think that by having this kind of place not only in museums but also our daily lives, it will increase opportunities to think about the war."

       (Japanese original by Yudai Hiraka, Sendai Bureau)

       ***

       The Sendai air raid took place between 12:03 a.m. and 2:05 a.m. on July 10, 1945. U.S. B-29 bombers dropped a total of 12,961 incendiary bombs and other shells from about 3,000 meters above the city. Some 500 hectares of the city center was devastated, and reportedly 1,399 people lost their lives.

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